The Fifth Leicestershire eBook

For three days we remained in support, and the whole
time the plain behind us was full of gas. The
Artillery suffered most heavily, for they could not
always wear their masks, and after the first 24 hours
there was a continuous stream of blinded gunners helping
each other back along the road to Philosophe—­a
terrible sight. We too had several casualties,
for the platoons, on their way to bath at Les brebis,
had to pass across the plain. At Philosophe we
lost two mules, through a direct hit with a heavy
shell, and the driver, H. Gamble, was very lucky to
escape with nothing more than a bad wound. It
was a miracle he was not killed. On the 12th
the battle became quieter, and that night, relieved
by the Canadians, who arrived very late owing to a
railway accident, we marched out to Bracquemont.
Before we went the Germans to the North had advanced
so far that we could see their lights in our left rear.
Bethune, too, was in flames, so we were not sorry
to be leaving the sector. Most thankful of all
were the transport drivers, for there are not many
worse places than the Loos road, and few more desolate
spots than Philosophe coal mine on a dark wet night,
when the wind is making the loose sheets of iron rattle,
and the horses have “got the wind up.”

CHAPTER XIV.

GorreandEssarsatpeace.

12th April, 1918.
10th Aug., 1918.

Bracquemont was sadly changed. Instead of the
gay, almost fashionable suburb of Noeux les Mines,
with numbers of people in the streets, it was now
a wilderness of empty houses; the only sign of life,
the piteous little groups of women and children waiting
by the roadside for some French car to come and take
them to a place of safety. The miners alone remained.
Inspired by Clemenceau, who had visited the place a
day or two before, they were working day and night,
regardless of bombardments and nightly bombing raids.
The furnaces at the Noeux Mines could be seen for
miles round, and were a constant mark for every German
gun and aeroplane, but still the plucky miners carried
on their work, knowing that on them alone depended
the coal supply of France. We were billeted in
the Convent formerly occupied by the Casualty Clearing
Station. The following morning the Drums gave
a short concert in the Bandstand, and after dinner
we were taken by lorries to Hersin Coupigny.

Hersin Coupigny was still fairly thickly populated,
but the news from the Merville and Kemmel area where
the enemy seemed to be making good progress, together
with the arrival each evening of a few high-velocity
shells, were fast driving the inhabitants to seek safety
further West. We remained here until the 24th
of April, the first few days in huts, the remainder
in the Tile Factory. It was not an enjoyable rest—­in
fact it was no rest at all. All ranks were ready
to move at short notice, and one expected almost hourly
to be sent forward to fill some new gap in the line.